Evening again

In times of high tide the parking lot is now 10-20 feet from Tom's Cove in spots. This year's storms really made the biggest difference that I have seen in 30 years of coming here.

We haven't spent too much time over on Assateague in the evenings. In summer it can be mosquito-full, if there is no breeze. Right now it is still a bit cool, and there is usually a breeze. We had not realized how pretty things are in the twilight. It's a bit dark for good photos, but I liked this pony wandering across the pool. If you look closely you will see some tags attached to it. How, I don't know. Anyway these are probably signs of veterinary attention, which they get at least once a year before pony penning (and probably more often).

You can see the tags a little better here. This was a good-looking pony.

Advisory Notice

DO NOT walk downwind of fresh oyster shell piles on a cool, wet, breezy day. The Curmudgeon General has determined this may be hazardous to your "smellth". It may be even worse.

An unusual day

During today's walk we saw something we didn't believe was found this far north. This guy was about 4 inches from the top to the curve of the tail. The waves have been rough lately. There was a pattern of wriggling around this poor thing. It must have struggled to breath for a while.

This evening there was an unusually high tide, as well as a storm. This was the remains of the storm that killed people in Mississippi. We headed out to the beach to see what was happening. An hour before high tide the waves were already over the top and filling the tracks of the giant earth movers being used to reconstruct the beach. After the lightening and hail quit I couldn't stay away. I didn't notice it while I was there, but there were still remnants of hail on the beach (little white specks).

On the way back we noticed that the Wildlife Loop was open for traffic until dusk, so we took a turn. A different set of birds were out. Among them was this gorgeous creature, a cattle egret.

We also noticed the male cones looking a little bedraggled after dumping their pollen loads. They used to stick up straight. Now they kind of droop down. No snide comments from the women, please!

This is the result of dumping. Every puddle around has yellow pollen around its edges.

A little farther around the loop we saw these pointy-nose look-down birds, unusually at rest. Normally we see them kind of hovering against the wind, looking for fish to dive at. They are really common terns, I am told.

As we got closer to home we saw half the street overrun by the tide.

A pair of cardinals was on the lawn. I could only capture the male.

We checked on the resident killdeer, sitting eggs in the "grass". This poor thing had just sat through the rain and hail. She looked OK, though. Our resident bird census taker put in a pair of stakes to remind people to stay away.

I find I have enjoyed being here long enough to see the changes brought by the seasons, and the different animals that are around.

Expected rain...got this

Everything softened, barely visible, a bit unreal. People disappearing in the distance, birds suddenly emerging from the fog.

Off in the distance, the old Coast Guard station. Now it resides on Main Street, Chincoteague Island. The old station is kept in decent shape, but it seems no one lives there. Don't go barefoot, there are tons of burrs over there.

The parking lot works are of interest to the birds.

It seemed kind of Hitchcock-esque as they wheeled away and returned. Kind of a shivery feeling.

The afore-mentioned goslings

Lest you think I'm going daft in my dotage, these pictures are for kids who will be visiting here in summer. Mom and Pop goose took their goslings for a walk today out at the Refuge.

While P-3 took shape with a layer of shells. It begins to look like we'll all have a place to park.

Traffic came to a crawl amidst ponies. Today, even after shots and exams by the veterinarians, they smelled TERRIBLE. Maybe it was something they ate.

Back on the mainland another species of duck took to the roadside for baths and drinks.

Then it was off to a grass lunch way across the sidewalk.

More denizens

It is that time of year again when things awaken or are renewed. These little beauties from a few days ago turned out to be prodigious dumpers of pollen. When the breeze blows, you can see a cloud of light yellow pollen come off the trees. And then you can see it again as it comes through our screens and lands on every flat surface in the house.

This is one of several families of ducks that one must dodge on the island. They are of several different species. Sometimes there are goslings, as well. The Moms guide the youngsters carefully to the other side of the street. Why, who knows? They can get grass on either side.

Out on the Refuge, the tree swallows flit around, chasing each other and insects. They have beautiful, iridescent blue backs and sides.

They seem to like these houses just fine.

Further along the loop we found this 2 foot Northern Water Snake. It seemed kind of torpid, though the temperature was warm and the sun was hot. He sat still for photos for a while, then left for the bushes.

Here is a close-up of the head, showing a round pupil and stripes along the mouth.

This shows the muddy camo colors a little better.

WTH? and beach bonanza

Today's discovery begs the question, "What the heck happened here?" Steps from the water and clearly delivered by it...

how the devil did somebody's brickwork get here? Bricks don't float! They sink. It has been relatively calm the last few days. Hmmmm.

Shells for P-3 continue to come in. They stink! We were downwind! Ick! We need sun and wind to do their work.

I had no idea that the whole darn back of the truck tipped up, wheels and all.

Here's the booty from the beach, collected over several days. People don't seem to be too careful about their small treasures. There's even a Bermuda dollar here. Makes you wonder if it "floated" here, as long as bricks get here, too.

The gold is 10 carat, but it's more than 0 carat. I wonder if our found "genie" bottle had anything to do with finding all this stuff?

No doubloons so far, though.

Pork in the park and wisteria hysteria

Pork in the park is an annual barbecue festival near Salisbury, Maryland that has a little something for everyone. Of course the main thing is barbecue, but there is music, a carnival, artists and other vendors, and a car show, as well.

We went to check out the barbecue. We are (at least I am) a believer in Texas barbecue, so this was a test. Along the way around the festival we saw much more than just barbecue. At this booth we wondered how they found enough crabs.

Not all the booths were smoking, but this one was. We focused on the trophies (front and center).

The we scoped out the nifty pig carving.

Then we scoped out the rude sayings. They made us cheerful, but it turned out they were better than the barbecue. We tried a couple of different booths, but were not happy with the results.

It was a bit chilly (50's and breezy), but somebody played the perfect song - Jimmie Hendrix's Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire.

We spent a few minutes listening to a small combo that played old songs/jazz/blues, really sounding great. You can see that it was a bit unusual in its composition.

The banjo set the tone, in the frailing style, along with the singer/organist.

It's pretty clear these people are serious about their barbecue. There were trophies here, and at lots of the booths. The competition runs through the weekend, and includes amateur and professional classes.

The car show was a bit subdued (we were there early in the day). But even their trophies were in character. I think there were almost as many trophies as cars.

There were quite a few interesting cars there.

The cars varied from spit/polish Miatas to customized modern cars to hand-constructed roadsters from various eras. Some were flashy, some kind of strange. I never did like Candy Apple Red.

The entrants appear to travel in style, judging by this fifth wheel camper.

Underwhelmed by the food we departed for Chincoteague, stopping for pictures of the Wicomico and Worcester (county) wisterias. Apparently the area is kind of famous for them. They are all along the roadways, sometimes covering a wall of trees.

Very elegant looking.

We stopped one more time, to take a look at this pile of discarded track spikes, evidence of how well this line is maintained. There are very few trains. The line goes all the way down the peninsula, right next to Route 13 most of the way. At one time freight was unloaded from the trains at Cape Charles, then ferried across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay to Norfolk.

I regaled E with the story of the Pinkertons, and the havoc they wrought on the hobo population. She thinks she heard some of it, but under quiet protest.

Sometimes I am amazed

Our townhouse owner's association met this weekend for its annual cleanup. This is always enjoyable, a few hours of raking and snipping and mulching, interlaced with stories. Most of us have known each other for years. Very little changes on the site, though this year we had to walk carefully around a female killdeer nesting in the middle of the lawn.

I worked with the men for most of the day, occasionally visiting E at the other end of the place. She worked with the women on clearing out and mulching some beds. We raked and carried brush and loaded the truck with trash.

Midday E was kind of excited as I approached, though that is completely normal. Who wouldn't be? She had been talking to one of the women who lives with her husband three doors down. He teaches at Harvard. She has retired from administering a program at NSF. She and E had been talking about where people came from and arrived at a point where they realized that he and I came from the same small town in upstate New York, Trumansburg. And not only that, we had both played sousaphone while we were in high school. On top of that, we had both graduated from Cornell University. The guy had even painted the house next door to my grandmother's house.

Our association has a dish to pass dinner at the end of the day, which is usually fun, full of small talk and wine. Everyone brings a dish, a dessert, or some wine. Our contribution this year was not to be trifled with.

Also this year, just before dessert, we two T-burgers sang our high school anthem. Weird, but fun. It was kind of interesting hearing how our paths diverged, then came together in a small place with a beautiful view. I am amazed.